Adjustable door frame



July 14, 1970' R, w. POND 3,520,085

ADJUSTABLE DOOR FRAME Filed Dec. 4, 1968 FIG.

INVENTOR.

IOBEFT M. POND United States Patent 3,520,085 ADJUSTABLE DOOR FRAMERobert W. Pond, Bethel Park, Pa., assignor, by mesne assignments, toAmerican Air Filter Company, Inc., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec.4, 1968, Ser. No. 781,137 Int. Cl. E06b 1/20 US. Cl. 49-505 2 ClaimsABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention is an adjustable, easilyweatherstripped door frame. The adjustable feature is the side jambs andhead jamb combination which consists of two overlapping and contiguousmembers. The jambs can be made to span walls of varying thicknesses bymerely sliding one over lapping member over the other in a horizontaldirection until the wall has been spanned. The jambs are then secured byinserting a fastener through both overlapping members and securing thefastener into the surrounding wall. The door frame is furtherdistinguished as being easy to Weatherstrip by having two normallyextending stops located one on each side of the two side jambs and thehead jamb. These stops are longitudinally serrated on opposed surfacesand are disposed on a converging course engaging the surrounding wall ata slight angle, leaving a crevice between stops and the wall. Sealantmaterial is applied within this crevice.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Many times, professional builders havedesired to insert a door through a wall. To do this, the builder wouldfirst have to knock a hole through the wall and insert a door framethrough the hole. A problem arises, because prefabricated door framesare usually of a standard size; and, if for some reason, the wall to bespanned by the door frame is too wide or too narrow for the standarddoor, an expensive, specially ordered door frame must be obtained or thebuilder must alter the standard door frame or the wall so that the doorframe and the wall compliment each other. This is very troublesome andexpensive. Therefore, builders have been asking door and door framemanufacturers for a prefabricated door frame which is adjustable and hasthe structural integrity of a ready-made door frame. Further, buildershave asked for a door frame which is easily weatherstripped. Thisinvention provides a readily adjustable door frame which is easy toassemble, yet has the structural integrity of a pre-assembled door frameand, further, the door frame of the invention is more easilyweatherstripped than door frames heretofore manufactured.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the invention, anadjustable. and easily weatherstripped door frame is provided. The doorframe consists of two parallel side jambs and an interconnected headjamb. The jambs are made from two L- shaped members arranged so that thelonger legs overlap and are contiguous and the shorter legs are on aconverging path and are serrated on opposed surfaces. ForWeatherstripping purposes, a sealing strip is disposed on the opposedsurfaces of the shorter legs. For the purposes of securing the doorframe, a plurality of fasteners are extended through both of theoverlapping L-shaped members. A door stop is provided which consists ofa normally projecting extension from one of the side jambs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a doorand door frame incorporating the invention.

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FIG. 2. is a cross-sectional view of section IIII as seen in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The invention is shown pictorially in FIGS. 1 and2. The door frame 2 consists of two parallel side jambs 30L and 30R andan interconnected head jamb 30H. The jambs are made from two L-shapedmembers 8 and 10 so that the longer legs 32 of each overlap and arecontiguous and the shorter legs 18 of each are on a converging path andare serrated on opposed surfaces. A sealing strip 24 is disposed betweenthe shorter leg 18 and the wall 6. For the purposes of securing the doorframe, a plurality of fasteners 20 are extended through both of theoverlapping L-shaped members at point 22. A door stop 36 is providedwhich consists of a normally projecting extension from one of the sidejambs. A resilient impact strip16 is vertically, coextensively disposedon the door striking surface of door stop 36.

Assembly can be done quickly since the door frame comes preassembled inonly two pieces. The two pieces are the overlapping members 8 and 10.Members 8 and 10 corresponding to the left and right side jambs 30L and30R are connected at the pre-assembly point to the corresponding members8 and 10 which correspond to the head jamb 30H at the two ends of thesemembers. This is graphically shown in FIG. 1 by mitered joints 38.

For assembly, one takes member 8 and places it across the wall 6 to bespanned so that the shorter leg 18 of member 8 engages the wall on threesides. At this time, a strip of sealant material is usually inserted onall three sides between the wall and the shorter leg 18 of member 8.Member 10 is then placed in an overlapping contiguous position to member8 so that the shorter leg 18 of member 10 engages the opposed surface ofthe wall 6 on three sides. Again, one usually inserts a continuous pieceof sealant material between shorter leg 18 and the wall on all threesides. Also, at this time, the bottom of the frame may be shimmed toinsure squareness. Frame is then compressed by a clamping means such asa screw clamp engaging both shorter legs 18 of members 8 and 10 andcompressing them towards one another so that the converging sides 18 arealtered to a parallel position compressing the sealant against the wall6. This clamping operation can be conveniently conducted with aplurality of screw clamps extending around the three sides of the doorframe. After the frame is secured and clamped in this manner, a seriesof holes are drilled through both overlapping members 8 and 10 and afastener is inserted through this hole securing the over lapping members8 and 10 to the surounding wall 6. In FIG. .2, the fastener is shown asa screw, but it could be any type of fastener such as a toggle bolt, arivet, etc. Member 10 is also shown as countersunked in FIG. 2 to acceptthe head of the fastener. This is, of course, to give a flush fit.

One can readily see the greatly improved advantages of gripping andsealing obtained by the converging nature of the shorter legs 18 ofoverlapping members 8 and 10. When these converging surfaces arestraightened to a parallel position, they compress the sealant materialagainst the wall with a force not possible if these converging memberswere parallel to start with. Further, the serrations on the opposedsurface prohibit the escape of sealant material 24 and insure that aconsiderable portion will be retained to insure air-tightness.

A door stop 36 is shown in FIG. 2 and is a normally extendingchannel-shaped projection 36, extending from one of the side jambs,either 30L or 30R. The door stop 36 is coextensive in length with thelength of the side jamb. On the striking surface 42, of the door stop 36is a 3 continuous groove 40 which is coextensive in length with thelength of the door stop 36 and into which is placed a resilient strip16. The resilient strip may be made of rubber or plastic.

The door frame can be made of any material such as aluminum, wood, orplastic; but, due to the particular design of the door frame, extrudedaluminum is preferred. The sealant material 24 can be any caulkingmaterial; but, for this purpose, a strip of silicone-butyl sealant tapeis preferred.

What is claimed is:

1. A door frame comprising: a first and second parallel side jamb and ahead jamb located normal to above and connecting said first and secondside jambs; each side jamb and said head jamb comprising: two L-shapedmembers, each having a short leg and a long leg substantially normalthereto, said members being so arranged that the shorter legs of eachmember are substantially parallel, being disposed so as to converge,being serrated on opposed surfaces, and the longer legs of each memberare overlapping and contiguous; a plurality of fasteners connecting saidlonger legs and holding said longer legs in a permanent contiguousposition; a sealing material disposed on said opposed serrated surfaces,one of said L- shaped members of one of said side jambs having integraltherewith and extending normally therefrom a 4 channel-shaped door stop,said door stop being coextensive in length with said side jamb to extendtoward said opposed side jamb and being positioned to stop a door as itswings inwardly alongside said shorter leg of said L-shaped member.

2. A door frame as described in claim 1 in which said door stop has aresilient strip disposed on said door stops striking surface, saidplastic strip being vertically coextensive in length with the length ofsaid door stop.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,948,602 2/ 1934 Tracy 49--505XR 2,736,930 3/ 1956 Longley 52217 XR 3,119,155 1/1964 Schlegel 49-505XR FOREIGN PATENTS 757,389 4/ 1967 Canada.

KENNETH DOWNEY, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 52-212

